Source: Daily_Mail
Middlesbrough 2 West Ham 0: Downing delight as Boro march on
Why can't life in the Barclays Premier League be this easy for Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate and his underachieving stars?[LNB]Anyone watching last night's fifth-round replay at the Riverside on television could be forgiven for thinking that Middlesbrough are a team without a care in the world as they now contemplate their fourth successive FA Cup quarter-final.[LNB]Instead, they are a side who have won just one of their last 16 League games and failed to score in the last five of those. Liverpool visit the Riverside on Saturday and another difficult afternoon no doubt lies ahead for Southgate and the fans who turned their back on the club in droves last night. [LNB] Hammer blow: Downing's spectacular free-kick flies over the West Ham wall to give Middlesbrough the lead[LNB] [LNB] Middlesbrough 2 West Ham 0: How the action unfolded[LNB]West Ham boss Zola praises the fans as 4,000 head north to the Riverside[LNB]WEST HAM UNITED FC NEWS FROM ACROSS THE WEB[LNB]The crowd was a pitiful 15,602 although live television, the weekend's awful draw with Wigan and a bizarre request to keep the noise down in the stands from killjoys who should know better can hardly have helped.[LNB]But the fact Middlesbrough created more excitement in the opening 20 minutes, as well as two goals, will not have gone unnoticed by the absent thousands, nor by Southgate as he tries to fathom out his team's sorry League form.[LNB]Everton manager David Moyes, who awaits Boro in the last eight, travelled to Teesside and saw a home side playing without fear and apprehension, helped by first-half goals from Stewart Downing and Tuncay against a strangely subdued West Ham side.[LNB]Downing has yet to find the net in the League this season as his hometown club continue their unexpected fight for survival from the bottom three, but the England winger seemed hellbent on wrecking West Ham's FA Cup bid.[LNB]Radoslav Kovac marked his West Ham debut with a late challenge on Tuncay at the edge of the area in the fifth minute which gave Downing the opportunity to score his 25th Middlesbrough goal and his side's first from a set-piece since Mido betted against West Ham on November 1.[LNB]The visitors' goalkeeper Robert Green, who was equally helpless when Downing put Boro ahead in the 1-1 draw at Upton Park, was at full stretch as a perfectly struck left-foot shot sneaked in under the bar. [LNB] High times: Stewart Downing celebrates after the opening goal[LNB]Downing sprinted towards the home bench with his team-mates in pursuit as they celebrated their first home goal since January 10. [LNB]'As soon as I hit it, I thought it was going in,' said Downing. 'It's about time because I practise them enough.[LNB]'This win has been coming and we have to keep it going. We have a great chance of getting through to the semis, we did well at Everton earlier in the season, and if we play like that we can beat anyone. We just have to be consistent.'[LNB]Green also stood no chance when Tuncay scored Middlesbrough's second, and his fifth of the season, following another basic error at the back in the 20th minute.[LNB] Gary O'Neil's long punt from the right was played between the recalled Jeremie Aliadiere and James Tomkins, but with Green caught in no man's land, Tomkins stretched out his foot to intercept the pass, only for the ball to fall to Tuncay. The former Fenerbahce favourite took two large strides before hitting a half-volley that Tomkins deflected beyond Green.[LNB]Southgate said: 'It was a good night for us. The early goal set the evening up and the quality knocked the stuffing out of them. The energy and enthusiasm in the first half has set the standard and it was great to see them enjoying their football. That is what we want to play like.[LNB]'It gives everybody renewed optimism. Football is about dreams, that is why we want to take cup competitions seriously and hopefully that will follow into the League.' West Ham boss Gianfranco Zola said: 'It was certainly not our best performance and it was not made any easier by conceding two goals so early. That hit our confidence.[LNB]'I'm sorry and disappointed for our supporters because they were fantastic. It's a big blow to go out of the Cup. I know how special it is to win this competition and I wanted my players to experience the same pleasure.'[LNB] Middlesbrough 2 West Ham 0: How the action unfolded[LNB]West Ham boss Zola praises the fans as 4,000 head north to the Riverside[LNB]WEST HAM UNITED FC NEWS FROM ACROSS THE WEB[LNB] [LNB] [LNB]
